Closure of Enmore, Rose Hall estates on hold till next year

Nov 18, 2017 News

The scheduled closure of the Rose Hall and Enmore Estates will most likely take effect in 2018, since a system is not yet in place for the sugar workers following closure.

Rose Hall factory, East Berbice.

This is according to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, who was speaking at a post-Cabinet press conference yesterday. He insisted the administration’s commitment to ensuring that the best interest of the sugar workers is taken into consideration before decisions are made regarding the sector.
The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) has a Special Purpose Unit (SPU) process which involves valuation, surveys, inventorying and other assessments of the sugar industry which are still to be completed, Harmon said.
As it relates to a proposal by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) for the purchase of the Enmore Estate, Minister Harmon said all proposals will be analysed by the SPU, then at an appropriate time, a response will be provided.
He assured, too, that severance will be paid to the sugar workers, where necessary, since “the welfare of the workers is the primary consideration of this administration and we will not see workers put on the breadline in that manner, without some recourse.”
Plans are on stream to train the workers for employment in other fields, as part of the post-closure recommendations.
The $130 million SPU was established in July 2017 to manage the divestment of the Skeldon Factory and other Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) assets.
The industry, with more than 16,000 workers, is facing major problems with falling production, ancient factories and poor agriculture saddling with GuySuCo with a cash flow that is insufficient to pay workers and contractors.
In fact, for the last decade, GuySuCo has been granted billions of dollars in cash bailouts.
The issue has pitted the administration against the Opposition. The latter has built its support base from sugar workers.
The industry, despite its huge chunk of foreign exchange, has been draining the Government.
The Coalition Government, since coming to office in 2015, ordered an inquiry and closed Wales estate, West Bank Demerara, last December.
Two other factories, Rose Hall, in Berbice and Enmore, East Coast Demerara were slated for closure.
Skeldon estate, which benefitted from a US$200M project for a new factory and expanded fields, failed to kick off despite its grand launch in 2009.
Several international companies as well as local ones have expressed interest in running a number of factories, including Skeldon which was closed earlier this year because of technical issues.
Berbice sugar workers and farmers have been pushing for local companies to run the factories there.